Saturday, November 04, 2006 2:10 AM

KCB Avoidance

PITBULLS:

KCB is an insurance policy against getting to slam off the required controls. There are times not to use the bid though and that is where the 40 HCP in the deck rule is in effect. When the auction tells you that you have 33-34 HCP , the odds that you are off two Aces is impossible . There is just no room to be off two Aces. You do not need an ace asking tool. Take this hand for instance ♠AQJxx ♥x ♦KQJ10x ♣Qx and partner opens 1♣. You respond 1♠ and partner reverses to 2♥ and you bid 3♦. Partner bids 3♠ so now what ? Partner has around 18 HCPs on average for this sequence and you have 15 HCP’s . You bid 4NT and partner bids 5♥ showing only two Aces . Do you sign off in 5♠ ? No , this is silly in that the odds that you are off two Aces are astronomical . You bid 6NT as you are probably off the diamond Ace and the spade King. You probably have 12 tricks without the spade suit !! Partner has ♠10xx ♥AKQJ ♦x ♣AKJ10x and 6NT from your side has more than enough tricks.

Do not bother with Aces in quantitative auctions. Some players play that once they accept a quantitative invite , they bid Aces. This is just paranoia plain & simple. The odds are so far against you being off two aces it is a waste of time. My partners & I play Baron if we accept a quantitative slam try. This is far more practical. In the rare case that you may be off two Aces , I have seen contracts made. If the opponents fail to cash both & with your 32 HCP , one Ace disappears off the radar screen. Ray Grace would approve.

You have a flat 10 HCP and partner opens 2♣ and then shows 26-28 HCP and a balanced hand. Quantitative auctions are usually bid with skip bid warnings and not KCB. I would just bid 7NT as I have heard enough. KCB which is unnecessary in these auctions , have a bad side effect. Opponents double for the best lead. Blind leads make more slams than finesses do . Keep KCB for the hands that you really need to take out an insurance policy.